1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle roof cover unit, which can be opened, comprising a cover plate, a one-part or multiple-part reinforcing frame, arranged therebelow, and a synthetic material frame, injection molded around the outer periphery of the cover and of the reinforcing frame, which reinforcing frame, on its part, has a groove, encircling its outer periphery, for receiving an edge gap sealing profile. The invention further relates to a process for the manufacture of such a cover.
2. Description of Related Art
A cover unit of this kind, for a vehicle roof, which can be opened, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,482, where a cover plate and a reinforcing frame disposed therebelow in the peripheral areas are surrounded with a synthetic mass by injection molding, and thereby are interconnected; and where, during the injection molding process, a groove for receiving an edge gap sealing profile is created at the outer periphery. In the groove thus obtained, an encircling edge gap sealing profile is either inserted manually, or, in a further variation, is injected in an additional injection process. Apart from the fact that, after the initial injection process, further process steps are required, a drawback of this cover is that unavoidable minute mold and tolerance deviations in the injection part overlap those occurring in the edge gap sealing profile, and, consequently, do not result in a clearly definable outer contour of the finished cover assembly.
In commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/843,188, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,603 a process for the production of a cover unit with a peripheral seal for vehicle roofs is disclosed in which a mold, having a mold cavity with adjoining first and second mold spaces which open into each other, has at least one cover part and a cover support placed therein with an edge area thereof extending into said first mold space, and where a seal-receiving part, having an outwardly directed seal receptacle in which a resiliently compressible peripheral seal is mountable, is arranged in the first mold space at a distance from the cover part and cover support so as to leave a connection-forming gap in the mold between them and the seal-receiving part, the seal-receiving part being positioned so as to isolate the second mold space from the first mold space and being oriented with the seal receptacle facing into the second mold space. The mold is closed and an elastomer introduced into the mold so as to fill the connection-forming gap and connect the cover part and cover support into a unit with the seal-receiving part, the elastomer introduced being made of a softer material than the seal-receiving part and being prevented from entering into said second mold space by said seal-receiving part. A peripheral seal can be molded onto the outer side portions of the seal-receiving part or can be subsequently attached to the completed cover unit.
A method for the manufacture of a sealing gasket on the rim of a sheet of glass is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,852 by which a preformed sealing gasket is fixed to the rim of a sheet of glass by positioning the rim of the glass sheet and the gasket in a mold cavity and molding and polymerizing a polyurethane material onto and between portions of the glass sheet and gasket. However, no attempt is made to mechanically interlock the gasket and polyurethane material in a detachable manner.